Love: Christina Calhoun & Tyson Thielen

For a few months, they had lived just across the street from each other. Yet they didn't meet until Christina's friend persuaded her and Tyson's friend persuaded him to attend their Fairmount neighborhood's 2011 block party.

They talked that day, and more at house parties over the next couple of months. "Tyson started asking me to go on walks," Christina remembered.

Christina, who grew up in Doylestown, is a physical therapist who now works in clinical research at Thomas Jefferson University. Tyson, now a corporate pilot, grew up in Jefferson, a small town in Iowa. He had moved here to take a job with an aerial survey company.

Tyson said he sometimes found it hard to be comfortable with people from the city, but never with Christina. One night, after a few drinks with friends, he brought up his favorite hobby. "How about I take you fishing sometime?" The suggestion did not scare her off.

"He was real easy to have a conversation with," Christina said. "He made me laugh. And he's very good- looking. I knew there was potential."

Tyson felt it, too, but made a conscious decision not to act on it. He was about to spend much of many months out of town for training. "If there was a spark, I did not want it to get put out by the uncertainty of my unconventional schedule," he explained.

Christina figured if something were going to happen, it would. In early January 2013, it did. His training behind him, Tyson asked Christina out for Thai food at Trio. They had as much fun on a real date as they'd had walking around town or chatting over beers at the neighbors'.

"We've been together from that night on," said Tyson. "By the end of January, we were pretty much inseparable," added Christina.

Eventually, they fished the Wissahickon Creek.

Tyson hadn't been much of a wine drinker before Christina helped him find the kinds he most enjoys. The wine bar Tria is now one of their favorite spots, and after a few glasses there on Memorial Day weekend 2013, Tyson made a declaration:

"Not today, not tomorrow, but someday, I'm going to marry you," he told her. "I became the happiest girl in the world," Christina said.

That fall, Tyson was visiting his parents, Harold and Erika; grandma Rose; and other family in Iowa when his Aunt Robyn asked him about Christina. Tyson gushed.

The next day, Aunt Robyn and Uncle Howard drove him to the airport. "Here," Howard said. "We brought you your grandma's engagement ring."

Diamonds from that ring were placed in a new setting.

In November, the couple returned to Tria, to the very spot they'd been sitting when Tyson declared his intent.

"I must have had too much wine. I have heartburn," he said. Faking a pained expression, he reached into his coat pocket as if for Tums, but actually for the ring.

He knelt in front of her chair, said he wanted to spend his life with her, and asked Christina if she would marry him.

"Yes!" she said, pulling him up from his knees to hug him.

Within months, Tyson wheeled his carry-on across the street to Christina's, where the couple still live.

They found an officiant and made deposits on venue and vendors for a November 2014 wedding that never happened.

In May 2014, Christina found a lump in her breast. By month's end, the then-38-year-old learned she had cancer. More tests and discussions with her doctors led Christina to decide to undergo a bilateral mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.

As they filled out paperwork at one appointment, Tyson saw that he was already listed as Christina's emergency contact. She had identified him as her fiance, but the form described him as her friend.

"It really upset me," he said. His displeasure turned to worry. Would he be allowed to be with Christina right after her surgery? What if a decision needed to be made for her? For those reasons, and simply because he loves her, there was something Tyson had to do before the doctors went any further.

"Why don't we just get married, so we're official," he suggested. "We don't even have to have a ceremony."

On June 8, the couple picked a bouquet of flowers from the garden of Christina's parents, Newton and Lorraine, and met officiant Dorry Bless on Cabin Run Covered Bridge in Pipersville - a beautiful spot near Christina's hometown and a nod to Iowa's covered bridges.

Their 10-minute private ceremony brought happiness, among other emotions.

"It was very happy, but at the same time, I was pretty upset and sad, visualizing what we had in front of us," said Tyson. "We were doing the best we could do with what was dealt us, but it seemed unfair."

"It was a beautiful ceremony," said Christina, "but it was not how we thought it was going to be."

Christina's July surgery was successful. The tumor was self-contained and her lymph nodes were clear. But further analysis showed she would still need chemotherapy. Her treatments ran from September 2014 to February 2015. Their November wedding would have to be postponed.

Every vendor supported the couple. Officiant Dorry, photographer Asya Shirokova, and the team from Artesano Iron Works Gallery texted on what would have been their wedding day to see how they were doing.

After her final surgery in April 2015, the couple called the vendors again, this time to find a date when all were available.

In the year and a half between meeting their officiant on a covered bridge and celebrating with family and friends, the couple kept their marriage a secret from everyone except their parents and her sister, Kathryn.

"Christina's the only wife who ever reminded her husband to remove his wedding ring before going out to the bar," jokes Tyson, now 33.

Finally, the couple stood before 70 family members and friends at Artesano Iron Works Gallery. Their officiant began with a revelation: "These two have been married for 503 days." The room was quiet until everyone did the math. There was a collective gasp of understanding.

Dorry shared the full story, then led the couple through the same vows they'd exchanged the year before. She also did the same reading about the Velveteen Rabbit, whose missing fur was not an imperfection but evidence of being loved.

Before the couple exchanged their rings, they were passed guest-to-guest so everyone there could bless them with well wishes.

Christina, who is now 41, wore a silk and French lace gown designed and handmade by her mother. "My mom and her mom, my grandmother, had made my mom's dress, and it was so special to me that she made mine," Christina said. "Plus, we got to spend a lot of time together."

Tyson will never forget the anticipation he felt in the moments before Dorry told everyone they had married secretly before Christina's surgery, and the relief and joy he felt after everyone knew. "I don't have to take my ring off, and we can talk about being married now," he thought.

The big reveal was Christina's favorite moment, too. "One of the reasons I wanted everyone to know is that it really says a lot about him, and about how much we love each other," Christina said. "Everyone knew that, but our story demonstrates it."

Tyson and Christina spent a week in California wine country.

Christina remains cancer-free.